1. Field of the Invention
The inventive device disclosed in the present application generally relates to motor skills training device for children and more specifically to a device designed to allow the child to jump, walk and crawl or a combination of any of this motor activities.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
It is common experience that walking is one of the developmental milestones of a child. Initially children learn to sit, roll over, and crawl before moving on to pulling up and standing at about 9 months. From then on, it's a matter of gaining confidence and balance. Most babies take their first steps sometime between 9 and 12 months and are walking well by the time they're 14 or 15 months old.
A number of devices have been developed to facilitate and implement these steps: these devices are broadly referred as motor skill devices. Motor skills devices are well known in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,409,246 to Ali discloses and claims a baby walker that includes a tethering connector to constrain the walker to travel within a path defined by an articulated, telescoping boom, thereby restraining the baby to a range of travel within a predetermined zone of safety. According to Ali's patent, the boom, which is rotatably affixed to a portable weighted base, is selectively angularly and radially limited in its travel relative to the interface of the boom and its point of attachment to the body of the walker. When compared with the JUMPER 360 of the present application the Ali' patent describes a device that does not allow the toddler/user to jump: thus feeling that exciting “gravity free” feeling generated by a jump rather than a walk. Additionally the Ali device does not swing and It is stationary.
In addition to that, U.S. Pat. No. 5,458,550 to Braim et al. discloses and claims a suspendable child walker system that includes a slide bar coupled to an upper support surface and formed as a hollow generally rectangular box. In the Braim et al. walkr the slide bar has a roof and a floor with vertical sidewalls. The roof and floor of the Braim et al. device both have parallel long sides and parallel short sides with circular apertures throughout. When compared with the JUMPER 360 of the present application the Braim et al. patent describes a device that does not allow the toddler/user to walk: thus does not give the opportunity to the toddler/user to develop such an important skill like walking. Additionally the Braim et al. device It is stationary.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,093,024 to Sokolowski also discloses and claims a suspended motor-skill training apparatus comprising a substantially solid and weighty main body member defining in horizontally surrounding relation a hollow central region open for vertical passage there through and sized to permit the legs and pelvis of a trainee to pass therethrough. Under the teachings of Sokolowski's patent, the main body member has left and right forwardly disposed attachment points and a rearwardly disposed attachment point defining a geometric center disposed within the hollow central region, and a center of gravity disposed substantially centrally between and rearwardly of the left and right forwardly disposed attachment points. Strap members connect the attachment points to a suspension mechanism mounted on an elevated support structure. When compared with the JUMPER 360 of the present application the Sokolowski patent describes a device that does not allow the toddler/user to walk: thus does not give the opportunity to the toddler/user to develop such an important skill like walking. It's only a jumping station. Additionally the Sokolowski device It is stationary.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,178,978 to Rieber discloses and claims a children's activity and entertainment enclosure includes a housing a plurality of legs attached to the housing to support the housing at a selected elevation above a support surface and a flexible sheet material covering the housing and at least upper portions of the legs. In the Rieber children's activity and entertainment enclosure a plurality of activity stations are present within the enclosure as are a seat for seating a child and a suspension mechanism for suspending the seat from the housing so that a child sitting in the seat with feet engaging the support surface can maneuver within the enclosure from one activity station to another. When compared with the JUMPER 360 of the present application the Rieber patent describes a device that does not allow the toddler/user to walk: thus does not give the opportunity to the toddler/user to develop such an important skill like walking. It's only a jumping station. Additionally the Rieber device It is stationary.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,182,355 to Bapst et al. discloses and claims an apparatus including a support frame, a resilient member, a seat, and a retainer. The resilient member of the Bapst et al. apparatus has a first end portion configured to be coupled to the support frame and a second end portion, opposite from the first end portion. The seat is configured to be coupled to the second end portion such that the seat is suspended from the support frame by the resilient member. When compared with the JUMPER 360 of the present application the Bapst et al. patent describes a device that does not allow the toddler/user to walk: thus does not give the opportunity to the toddler/user to develop such an important skill like walking. It's only a jumping station. Additionally the Bapst et al. device It is stationary.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,439,765 to Barron discloses and claims, child entertainment apparatus and methods of operating the same are disclosed. An example method of operating a child entertainment apparatus includes suspending a seat from a frame and driving the seat for swinging movement by reciprocating an arm slidably coupled to the seat where the seat is free to slide along the arm when the seat swings. When compared with the JUMPER 360 of the present application the Barron patent describes a device that does not allow the toddler/user to walk: thus does not give the opportunity to the toddler/user to develop such an important skill like walking. It's only a jumping station. Additionally the Barron is stationary.
Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 8,475,342 to Flowers and Flowers discloses and claims a portable child development station. More specifically, an infant crawling and walking aid. The inventive device disclosed by Flowers and Flowers is collapsible and can be stored in smaller confines. When the invention is set up, it is structurally sound and safe with detachable variations allowing assistance in crawling as well as walking by suspending the infant with variable height adjustments to accommodate infant. When compared with the JUMPER 360 of the present application the Flowers patent describes a device that does not allow the toddler/user to jump: thus feeling that exciting “gravity free” feeling generated by a jump rather than a walk. Additionally the Ali device does not swing and It is stationary: thus limiting the movement of the toddler/user.
Despite all the efforts listed above prior art patents describe structures that are either not truly convenient or else involve complicated, expensive, and overly difficult assembly and/or disassembly parts and procedures. The JUMPER 360 has a jumping apparatus combined with a walker component—The high of the rope/system is scalable depending on desire length that the user wants it to give the child/user for a specific purpose- Jump, Walk, Crawl or a combination of any of them. In addition to that the the JUMPER 360 system can be static or dynamic- can move from place to place as well as can go 360 degrees in the top via swing mechanism and/ or 360 degrees Top and Bottom mechanism can be individually lock and can be maintain in one position. on the bottom via the supporting wheels or the bottom ring Top and Bottom mechanism can be individually lock and can be maintain in one position. An additional improvement that distinguishes and improves the JUMPER 360 of the present application over the prior art is the fact that lateral supports and supporting bars disconnect easily via a quick release mechanisms (30-31) located respectively at the bottom (30) of said vertical studs departing from two diametrically opposite spots and in the extreme ends of the top (31) of said vertical studs departing from two diametrically opposite spots. Finally the user can disconnect the the JUMPER 360 device by a quick release mechanism (29) and the install a Swing or another activity device that is supported via the same quick release mechanism or eye hooks located in the sides of the holding bar. These features are not present in prior art patents and patent publications. Other devices have been advertised on various media but never patented or described into a printed publication.